We are, within these contexts, once removed and, as such, can - especially in our current environment of moral relativism - potentially step away from any immediate social responsibility. This sort of characterization can be seen at the core of the emotional infidelity that has become so salient as our electronic and media connections have become more and more dense, as well as the sort of cyber-bullying (link is external) and social expose (link is external) that has recently captured our attention.
By contrast, social media also offers a sense of false intimacy. Somehow it is important for you to know that your "friend" Ally, whom you haven't actually seen in 30 years, just went for a walk and somehow it is important that she tell you - and 234 other folks. But now you "know" about her day and that somehow fosters a sense of connection - for both of you. That connection, however, is considerably more tenuous - and less real -- than when your spouse asks you where you are so s/he can get a visual of you in the kitchen or at the grocery or headed for the gym, is it not?
It is that same false sense of connection that can prompt even those of us with the most rigid of boundaries to get pretty bendy with those boundaries within contexts like E-Harmony or Match.com. Fling.com, by the way, gets about 40% more traffic than Match - go figure...or not.